Rail-testing apparatus.



Patented o'ct. 2|, |902.

. F. STAHL.

RAIL TESTING APPARATUS.

(Application filed July 7, 1902) (No Model.)

UNITED STATES l PATENT OFFICE.

FELIX STAI-IL, OF MUNICH, GERMANY.

RAIL-TESTING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. '711,793,datcd October 21, 1902. Application led July '7, 1902. Serial No. 114,674;A (No model.)

To all whom t may concern,.-

Be it known that I, FELIX STAHL, engineer director, a citizen of Bavaria, residing at Munich, Bavaria, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail- Testing Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. p

My invention consists of a hydraulic device for testing rails, and comprises the details of construction hereinafter set forth, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In order to render the specification easily intelligible,reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which similar letters of reference denote similar parts throughoutA the several views.

Figure l is a vertical section through the device in position on the rail; Fig. 2, a plan of the same, and Fig. 3 a side elevation thereof. l

The hardness and good quality of rails have ordinarily been tested by pressing a hard steel ball into the head of the same and measuring the quality and hardness thereof by the depth to which the ball was forced into the head at a certain pressure.

The object of my invention is to provide an easily-transportable apparatus for performing this operation without the aid of power derived from machinery, but by means of a hand driven or operated device.

According to my invention a cylinderd is provided, open at the bottom and having a plunger or piston e mounted to slide therein. Within the cylinder d a second smaller cylinder c is provided, having a correspondinglysmaller plunger or piston b therein. This cylinder is' advantageously centrally mounted in the upper part of the cylinder d in any well-known manner, but preferably removably fixed to the cover of the same by means of screws p, as illustrated in Fig. l. The lower surface of the piston e is provided with a recess to'receive the steel ball f, while the smaller piston h is capable of depression by means of the spindle a, preferably screwthreaded into the top cover of the cylinder d and operated by hand by means of a suitable levervorhandle. (Notshown.) The cylinders are filled with a suitable liquid, such as glycerin or the like, and the whole apparatus is provided with handles, as at m, by means of which it may be conveniently carried from one point toY another. The walls of the cylinder d are extended downwardly at each side of the rail, as at 'L' t', and provided with opposite orifices, in which a wedge h may be tightened up against a correspondingly-inclined surface 71.. The wedge is provided with a threaded extension n and a nut 7c, working against a suitable bracket o, by means of which the said wedge h may be tightened upy against the under side of the foot of the rail g.

The device is manipulated in the following manner: The apparatus is placed on the rail g, with the steel ball f between the under surface of the plunger e and the rail-head. The wedge h is then tightened up against the inclined surface h', so that the whole device sits firmly upon andy in fixed relationto the rail. The spindle a is now screwed inwardly and actuates the piston h of the inner cylinder c, and thus the piston e will be pressed down onto the steel ball f with the desired force,vand thus the testing operation is carried out in a convenient and easy manner. The amount of pressure applied maybe measured and registered by a suitable gage n', attaehd to and communicating with the cylinder The arrangement of the cylinder c within the cylinder d is of particular advantage, since the walls of the former may be comparatively thin, the pressure within the same being compensated Aby the fluid-pressure without the same, as will be readily understood. Supporting-ribs q maybe formed on the outer walls of the cylinder c. Another advantage of this arrangement is that the whole of the power applied to the plunger e is centralized in the testing-ball f. After the rail has been tested under the desired pressure the spindle a, may be screwed back and the piston e retracted, whereupon the nut lo may be unscrewed and the apparatus readily removed from the rail. The interior pressure also serves to tighten up the iange of the inner cylinder c against the interior of the cover of the outer cylinder, so that the screw-bolts are supplemented by such pressure in obtaining a tight joint. By the arrangement ICO of the whole device no power mechanism is necessary, the proportions of the plungers b and e, together with the leverage of the screwspindle a, being suiiicient to produce the required pressure (say about thirty thousand kilograms) by hand without any mechanical power system, while all the forces operate in the center line of the apparatus.

I claim as my inventionl. A rail-testing device consisting of a hydraulic cylinder provided with a piston,a testing medium,means for securing the apparatus in xed relation to the rail comprising extensions adapted to embrace the rail provided with corresponding apertures or slots, wed ges disposed within the slots beneath the rail, and means for actuating the piston.

2. A rail-testing device consisting of a hydraulic cylinder provided with a piston, a testing medium, means for securing the apparatus in fixed relation to the rail comprising eX- tensions adapted to embrace the rail and provided with apertures, a transverse rail-support connecting the two extensions and having an inclined face, a wedge disposed within the apertures in contact with the inclined face of the support and having a threaded eX- tension, a nut mounted upon said threaded extension and abutting a fixed support, and means for actuating the piston.

3. A rail-testing device consisting of a hydraulic cylinder provided with a piston, a testing medium, means for securing the apparatus in xed relation to the rail comprising downward extensions adapted to embrace the rail and provided with apertures, a stationary transverse rail-support resting in said apertures and having a lower inclined face, a movable wedge resting in said apertures beneath and in contact with the transverse support, a threaded extension upon one end of the wedge, a bracket mounted upon one of the downward extensions and adapted to re- 'ceive the threaded extension of the wedge, a

at one end,a piston mounted therein, a smaller open-ended cylinder secured within the first cylinder with the interiors of the two cylinders in communication, a second piston mounted for reciprocating movement longitudinally within the smaller piston and adapted to be operated by suitable means, means consisting of downwardly-extending slotted arms and opposing wedges for holding the object to be tested opposed to the lower end of the cylinder and in fixed relation thereto, a steel ball interposed between the face of the larger piston and the object to be tested.

5. A rail-testing device consisting of an outer cylinder having an open bottom and a cover at the top, a piston within said outer cylinder adapted to press a steel ball down onto the rail-head, a smaller cylinder mounted within said outer cylinder, a screw-spindle entering said smaller cylinder, a piston within the latter operated by said screw-spindle, downwardly-reaching extensions on the said outer cylinder having slots therein and a wedge device extending through said slots under the foot of the rail.A

In testimony whereof I ax my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FELIX STAHL.

Witnesses:

HENRY R. McGINNIs, CLARA I. PARKER. 

